Different concert experiences

After my recent concert experience, I wanted to reflect on previous concert experiences and my hearing.

The very first concert, I was still in high school (it was summer time, when I was about to be a senior in school), and it was in Denver. Of course, it was a Hanson concert. They were doing their Underneath Acoustic tour at the time, and I really wanted to attend a show. This was my first concert experience, and I remember being in complete awe to even be in the same venue as the band. At this concert, I was able to get close enough to front row, so I was able to see the guys and I had decent enough hearing, even though I only had just one lone hearing aid at the time. I did have to fiddle with hearing aid at times, but it wasn't bad.

The second concert experience was another Hanson concert the following year for their Underneath tour. My mom and stepdad took me to Kansas City, Missouri for this concert (we made a trip of it, stopping in Omaha for a bit and whatnot). I even had won a meet & greet pass for this particular concert, but because I didn't always have constant internet connection (I would quickly check my emails in the hotel's "business center"), I had no idea the time for the meet and greet had been moved up so I actually missed it. But the guy who worked for Hanson and handled the meet and greets was able to make up for my missing it by getting me back stage right after the concert so I could get their autographs, which was really nice of him to do.  Anyway, during the concert, I had front row but had a heck of a time trying to hear at first. The guys came on stage and started playing, and all I heard was the audience echoing in the venue. Ugh! It was miserable. I fiddled with my hearing aid, trying to find the right setting... I ended up taking the hearing aid off, and whoa... I could hear the music. Wow. It was loud enough over the speakers that I didn't even need my hearing aid in! I was then a happy camper once I discovered this. As I said earlier, I was taken back stage so I could meet the guys and get their autographs.. well, of course, because I was amazed that I could hear the music with no hearing aid, I had to share this fact with the guys. Taylor thought it was great!

I've gone to three more Hanson concerts since this tour, once in Charlotte, N.C. in Oct. 2007 (I flew out to S.C. to stay with an online Hanson fan friend and we went to this concert together), once in Minneapolis in Set. 2008 (I stayed with my uncle who lived in Minneapolis at this time and I met up with some Hanson.net members at the venue), and another one in Denver in Nov. 2008 (in which I went to this concert with my stepdad's niece as I had a spare ticket). In Charlotte and Minneapolis, I was up in the balconies, and there was more fiddling with the hearing aid, taking it off, and trying to find the best way to listen to the music. The second Denver concert, I was on the floor close to front. Don't think I did too much fiddling with the hearing aid then.

in Charlotte, NC (Oct. 11, 2007)

Minneapolis, MN (Sept. 28, 2008)

Denver, CO (Nov. 8, 2008) 

I did attend a local concert once... if I remember right, it was a Skillet concert, but Hawk Nelson was opening, and that was who I wanted to see. I liked some of their music, even if I wasn't completely familiar with their stuff as I am with Hanson, but it was a different concert experience. I remember trying an assistive listening device that the venue had available for deaf/hoh people, and that just plain did not work out. I gave up on the device, and just relied on my hearing aid. I left shortly after Skillet hit the stage and headed home.

After I had gotten my left cochlear implant, I bought a ticket to a Michael Jackson tribute show that was taking place locally. Kenny Wizz was the performer, and he was doing his HIStory Tour. Since I am never going to have the chance of seeing an actual Michael Jackson concert, I thought this would be the closest I would get, since I grew up on Michael Jackson's music (as a child, I was absolutely fascinated with his music videos, appreciating all the visual aspects and creativity he included). Anyway, I really enjoyed this show. I was able to follow along with the music, though it sounded different because it was a different person singing the songs. It would take me a while to figure out/recognize the song Kenny was doing, but I would always figure it out.  It was a different experience, but very enjoyable. There were visuals and dancers while Kenny put on a great Michael Jackson tribute show.

It would be three years after going bilateral before I would finally make it to another concert. Hanson, again! This year marks their 25th anniversary as a band (they were 6, 8/9, and 11 when they started), and 20 years since "Middle of Nowhere" was released. Because of these anniversaries, the brothers wanted to do a world tour, playing their greatest hits at the concerts. I figured, this would be a great "first" concert with bilateral implants, and it was! Not once did I have to mess with my implant processors; they automatically took care of everything. Volume was not too loud, but just perfect. When the audience screamed, that did not hurt in the slightest bit as my processors automatically controlled it.  It was a fantastic show and I absolutely loved it! I loved being able to hear with both ears, and to hear clearly too! I also was really aware of the vibrations from the music. I really enjoyed myself at this concert, hearing the music in stereo, and also feeling the vibrations of the music through the floor of the balcony. I would have to say, this concert was the best concert, sound-wise, for me.

Denver, CO ( Oct. 14, 2017)

Having bilateral cochlear implants has truly made a world of difference for me, and I could not be more pleased. I can only imagine I'd be enjoying even more concerts with bilateral hearing in the future, whenever that may be.

hearing test video

Recorded most of the hearing test that went on in the sound booth yesterday and uploaded to youtube.  After watching it and listening to the words/sentences with both CI and hearing aid on, holy moly!  There were still words and sentences that I couldn't make sense of while watching, but wow I really did horribly with only one device on at a time.  Shew!  While sitting in the sound booth, listening and trying to make sense of what was being said via the computer, it all sounded like a bunch of mumbo jumbo to me, or a bunch of gibberish.  I could figure out when it's a male or female voice, but other than that it was hard to make sense of the words or sentences.  It's insane.  I would certainly hope for a big improvement when I go bilateral!

Hear in the Dark 5K: a success!

The Hear in the Dark 5k was held on August 15 (last Friday), and it was a great success!  I don't know how many participants there were this year, but a bunch!  It's was another fun night for all, for sure.  Schwan's was available to sell frozen treats, and a farming group were also available, selling drinks and food.  There were bounce houses and face painting for the kids.  I helped at the registration table, which was quite busy!  Runners started running at around 8:30 if I remember that right, with walkers following suit.  It was a long walk, but it was fun!  I had fun passing people on the path and checking out their glowy decor (light up wigs or hair strands, glow sticks/bracelets/necklaces, etc.). It was great!  I had a lot of fun getting myself glowy for the 5K, and even found a use for the finger lights that I still had from last year's 5K.... I put them on my ears!  There are elastic bands attached to the finger lights, so I put one on my Harmony CI processor, and one on my Phonak hearing aid, and voila!  Lit up ears!  I thought that was great and wish I had thought of it last year!

my stash before I headed out to the park

school mascots dancing and having fun!

finger light on my Harmony

both ears lit up!

ready to walk!

the line of walkers

during the walk, runners passing us by

I followed these two girls for a while

green glowy wig, I thought it was neat

at the half-way point

two girls chained themselves together with their glow sticks

a small foot print on the path

more prints!

one of the signs

Run Forrest, RUN!

after the walk, cleaning up.

my glowy stash

the number of steps I made all day Aug. 15! shew!

I had some pictures that I took with my Canon powershot camera, but unfortunately, the SD card that was in it is busted (as in I can't use it anymore, computer won't even format it).  Darn it!  But I did get some good shots with my Sony Handycam, so it's all good!  Even got some video footage, which I will upload to youtube at some point.

Appointments set.

After waiting to hear back from my stepdad on when would be a good time to go down to Denver, I shot off an email to the CI clinic with a couple of possible days for August, and she got back to me with 2 appointment times for Aug. 21.  I am booked to have testing done with the audiologist in the morning on the 21st of August, and to consult with the surgeon that afternoon about going bilateral.  I'm looking forward to this appointment, to see what comes out of it and see if it's possible to get the second implant with Medicare coverage.


Since that appointment is a ways off, I'll be keeping myself busy in the mean time.  There are plenty of days when my boss will be off on vacation so that'll be some extra work for me at work.  Of course, I'll have my iPod with me to make work more tolerable ha.  I do get tired of hearing phones ringing, people walking/talking, machines going, etc.  Music is always a nice change.




In other, more happier news... I am an aunt once again!  My sister had her baby girl last week... 5 weeks early, but baby is doing well.  Still in the hospital for a bit more care, but healthy and well.  She's such a cute, beautiful baby.




Also, I have been preparing for the Hear in the Dark 5k for Aug. 15.  I have been slowly adding to my glowy/light up stuffs... Let's say I really hit up the dollar store one day, buying a bunch of different glow necklaces and bracelets.  I also found some light-up swords at Walmart for like $5, so I bought a blue one.  They're kind of like the light sabers from Star Wars.  I'm pretty stoked for this 5K!  Had so much fun at last year's.  Wyoming Families for Hands and Voices also have some other fund-raising activities happening this summer, which I plan on going as well.  I so can't wait for all this fun stuff to happen!

 my stash of goodies for the 5K!

 my dog checking out my new light sword

 just having fun!

Ah, hearing aid news.  My audiologist's office ordered some of those colored hooks for the Phonak hearing aids.. so I may go in one of these days to get one of them, just for the fun of it.  Not sure what color I would get yet, I'll have to look at them and decide.  I also changed the tube for my earmold over the weekend.  I was watching some TV, and the hearing aid kept going ultra quiet on me all of a sudden.  Changing the tube resolved that issue.  Now there's an orange tube on my hearing aid, replacing the old green one I had.  Love that I can use different color tubes and such!

Colored tubes!

I finally broke down and ordered some colored tubes for ear molds from Emtech Laboratories (an ear mold maker in the United States).  They have a variety of tubes for sale through their online shop, including colored ones.  They've been selling the colored tubes for several years now.  I was pretty excited when I got the padded envelope in my mail box the other day from Emtech.  I used the green one for St. Patrick's Day.
Next... to get the colored hooks from Phonak for my Naida hearing aid... for even more colorful fun!  I emailed my hearing aid audiologist about this, but haven't heard back from her in more than a week, so I will have to try contacting her again. 

rainbow of colors!

green enough for St. Patrick's Day?

Radiology Observation

I completed my observation of the radiology department at the hospital yesterday.  It was a different instructor taking me around to different areas to observe different things going on, and discussing things with me.  He wanted to be sure a radiography job would be a good fit for me, considering my deafness.  He's never worked with anyone who was deaf or hard of hearing in the medical field, so he had no idea that some deaf people work in different sorts of medical fields.  One thing he was concerned about was the phone use, so I told him there were captioned phones available that could possibly help with that.  He was also concerned about how much I hear or don't hear in certain situations.  There are situations, like going into the ER or OR with the portable X-ray units, which could be tricky hearing-wise.  But I do have an FM unit (I told him I had an assisted listening device), so I could either put the transmitter on the person doing the talking (or place it on something close enough to that person) to hear a little better, and of the different programming options I have on my CI and hearing aid.  At the end of the observation, he felt a little better about my wanting to go into radiography.  If I get into the program, graduate and get my degree, I don't necessarily have to work in a hospital setting; there are clinic settings that might be better for me.  Who knows!

But anyway, the observations were rather interesting.  Saw a couple more CT scans (one of the head and neck; another of the abdomen), various X-rays (ankle, hip/pelvis/spine, chest portable, regular chest), a fluoroscopy swallow study, interventional radiography where a team remove a filter from a vein and an interventional/fluoroscopy where they were trying to figure out why patient was having the issues he was having....  Definitely saw a lot in the 5 hours I spent in the radiography department.  I still feel the radiography career would be a good job for me, regardless of my hearing issues.  Yes, there will be issues that might arise, but I will do whatever I can to remedy those situations (like getting a captioned phone to use in the radiography office, using my FM unit, etc.).  I've also looked at other jobs in the medical field, like physical therapy, respiratory therapy, etc.  I just feel like radiography will be a good fit for me. I really appreciated that the instructor would lead me to a quiet area so we could discuss what I just observed, discussing my deafness and solutions for possible scenarios where hearing would be tricky, etc.  He was truly curious, not aware that there were special technology developed for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

Got my 8 hours of observation time done, paperwork has been signed off!  Now I need to answer the questions, explain the different radiography areas I observed, etc., make sure the application is properly filled out, and have everything turned in by Feb. 15th.  They will let applicants know if they've been accepted to the program or not in April.  In the mean time, I'll have to keep on top of my school work, and get good grades! 

Tinnitus stinks!

I have been trying to go without the hearing aid for a few days, so I could just rely on the implant and get the practice in with just the implant alone. But ooohhh, the tinnitus! It's horrible! Loud, obnoxious, continuous, it never ends! The tinnitus is in the hearing aid ear, and if I don't have the hearing aid on, it kicks in. It was fine first thing this morning, but then I put the implant on..... and soon enough the tinnitus was kicking in because I hadn't put the hearing aid on. I didn't wear a hearing aid for most of the day yesterday, and for a while I was fine. But by late afternoon/early evening, there was that constant high pitched sound going on, and it didn't quit the whole night.

It pretty much goes on 24/7 with no hearing aid and the implant going. If I take the implant off, then after a while the tinnitus starts to settle down it seems.  It's kind of weird. And it doesn't help that my right ear is sore and I really don't want to stick an earmold in that ear irritating the sore, but I just can't take the tinnitus anymore.  I have not noticed any tinnitus with the left implanted ear, it's only with the right ear as always. The only way to get the tinnitus to shut up during the day is if I put the hearing aid on and make noise, but when I want to just focus on the implant alone, it gets tricky.

I did email Allison about all this, and she replied saying to keep the hearing aid on (after activation, she said to try to take the hearing aid off for at least a couple of hours a day, which I've managed to do until recently with all this tinnitus activity). Still wear the implant too, but have the hearing aid on, don't worry about isolating the implant at this time. Ok, I can do that. But I will turn off the hearing aid when I do auditory rehab on the laptop. I don't typically do the rehab for more than 15 minutes at a time typically, and I only do the rehab maybe twice a week if that. Sometimes I'm too tired when I get home I don't even want to bother with the rehab.

Now, if the sore in my right ear would just disappear already so I can wear the hearing aid more comfortably again... Neosporin, do your job! I usually get this type of sore (my primary doctor once said it looked like swimmer's ear when he checked my ear once quite a while back for this same issue) at least once a month or less. Gets kind of annoying. Would be nice to get rid of the hearing aid and just implant the right ear too. Then no more earmolds, and be done with the annoying hearing aid feedbacking, no more sore/itchy ear as a result of the earmolds.... yeah. Maybe someday I'll go bilateral (more than likely I will if it gets to the point where a powerful hearing aid just isn't cutting it for the right ear anymore).


I am still making slow progress with the implant alone. As long as I can lipread/have visual support, I can usually keep up with just the implant alone. Sometimes I'll ask the person to repeat if necessary, but I can usually kind of figure out what was being said.  Yesterday, I did hear a bird chirping in the tree while I was out with my dog. I found the bird in a tree, so I was watching it and every time it open its mouth, I heard a sound. Definitely was the bird!  And the other day, I'm fairly certain I heard some loud thunder with just the implant on.

1 week since activation

It's been 1 week since activation. Still hearing electronic tones and feeling sensations for sounds with the implant. I have been noticing though, if I wear my hearing aid alone, it's fine and I hear "normally" with the hearing aid. But as soon as I put the implant processor on, it's like as if the volume on the hearing aid has been turned down. Is this because my brain is trying to balance out both ears? It gets so confusing as it's still tones and not actual sounds in the left ear, and normal sounds in the right. As soon as I take the head piece off, hearing aid ear is back to normal again. Just find that interesting. I've also been trying to keep the hearing aid turned off as much as possible so the left ear gets all the practice. I have slowly worked my way up to Program 2. For a few days, I would start off at Program 1, and when I feel like I'm not getting much of anything anymore, then I'd bump up to 2 with the volume turned down, and slowly turn up the volume. Yesterday and today, I've been starting off with Program 2 with the volume down, easing my way up to the 12 o'clock position with the volume wheel.

I've also been feeling something poking through the skin behind my left ear, right along the groove in three different spots. Definitely feels like some stitches have been left behind. I had my primary doctor look today, and he says there's definitely something (he couldn't pull them out, they're kinda stuck). He was thinking they were just scabs at first, but then he took a closer look with tweezer and more lighting and yep definitely seems like stitches left behind. Have sent a message to Kelsall's assistant and am waiting for a response.

I think I am hearing the turn signal ticking in my car when I drive (I've been keeping the hearing aid turned off in the car). At first I could just feel it, but lately I think I'm starting to hear it a bit. It's like my brain knows the actual sound it's making from the right ear so it's connecting it to the left ear. I can't tell if I am definitely hearing it, but it seems like it. Definitely slow progress!

fun with hearing aids

Today, before getting to work, I decided I'd play around with the different hearing aids I had with the Hatis Epic stilouette. With the Claro hearing aid, the volume is far too quiet. I even maxed out the volume on the iPod and had to resort to turning up the volume on the hearing aid as well, and it was still too quiet. Then I gave the loaner Unitron a try, and whoa the music sounded different, unusual. Then I dug out my purple Phonak Pico-Forte's. They still work! With the stilouette, the music sounded better (though a bit different), and the volume is better too. It's just a matter of making sure the microphone is next to the stilouette to get a better sound, and it's tricky to get them both sitting behind my ear just right. Hm... Already I miss my Supero!

Am considering making a new website for myself, in relation to my hearing loss and meningitis. I do have a webpage about my meningitis, except it doesn't mention much of my meningitis story. So, why not just make a whole new website and combine both meningitis and deaf stories and just have fun with it? Yep.

Meningitis Angels, hearing aids

Last Thursday, I flew to Houston, TX for a Meningitis Angels conference. Overall, it was an interesting experience. I've read of what meningitis can do to people, of the damage meningitis causes. But I've only met very few individuals locally that were deafened as a result of meningitis, that's it. But meeting people who lost limbs, suffered from traumatic brain injury, etc., wow. That really opened my eyes. But I'm glad I went. It was nice to meet others who had meningitis and to see how they are doing these days after having had meningitis recently or years ago. I am definitely going to do better at keeping in touch with the Meningitis Angels folks, just communicating with them and such.


Got my new earmold made today (ok yesterday, since it's after midnight and it's now actually Thursday). I requested for the earmold to be made of non-allergenic material, in hopes that'll reduce the ear irritation problems I've been having. While the earmold was setting in my ear, he got another hearing aid and proceeded to hook it up to the computer, then put it on my ear. Oh, he wants to keep my Supero hearing aid so he could try to get the feedbacking problems fixed. So for now I've got a loaner hearing aid, a Unitron. Eh, everything sounds too weird with the Unitron, so I found my Phonak Claro hearing aid and am currently wearing that one until I get the Supero hearing aid back. With the Claro, things sound a bit more normal to me (more similar to the Supero). Quieter, but more normal. I tried to turn up the volume on the Claro and that just resulted in feedbacking, ahh!

He also tried to encourage me to consider getting a new hearing aid, since he knows I've had issues with the Supero since I first got it in May 2004. I told him I wasn't too worried about getting a new hearing aid at this time, that I'm more focused on getting my left ear implanted first. He's pretty happy to hear I'm still proceeding with the implant process. Now if only Medicaid would approve of it.


Still waiting to hear on the status of the cochlear implant appeal process. While at work yesterday (ok, Monday), I made a relay call to Advanced Bionic's insurance reimbursement department to find out the status, and I was told she'd leave a message with the person handling my case to get back to me. No emails yet, but hopefully soon I'll hear something. Otherwise, I'll just try relay-calling back.

SSI, Airport, etc

Last Thursday, my aunt and I flew out to Mississippi. Flying out, I had no problem. On Monday as we were going through security check at the Gulfport airport, I had my hearing aid hanging in front of my ear instead of resting behind my ear. Some of the security personnel noticed this and pointed it out to me, wondering if it was a bluetooth device. "No, it's my hearing aid." "Oh, ok, come on through then." That's the first time I ever encountered security questioning whether I had a bluetooth device or a hearing aid on. It kind of made me laugh.


As for SSI, well, we got more paperwork to fill out! I myself have to fill some out, my mom does.. As do my counselor. So I'm sure Dr. Kelsall and the audiologist at Rocky Mountain Ear Center are having to fill out some paperwork as well too. Fun stuff, all this paperwork to do. And my mom's been trying to get a hold of a local disabilities lawyer who specializes in SSI/SSDI processes or whatever. It's possible that he just may be out of office for a while, who knows. Mom's left a message on his machine though, so hopefully we'll hear something from him.

Interesting...

Well! I decided I was going to vacuum the carpeting throughout most of the house today... I had my iPod on, listening to music as I vacuumed up the dog hair and dog toy guts off the floors. Made my way down the stairs, vacuuming each step. Finally got downstairs and continued with the vacuuming, jamming to the songs on the iPod. Soon enough, anytime my right ear got close enough to the vacuum as I bent over with the hose to suck up any more toy guts and random junk from hard to reach spots, my hearing aid turned off! What the heck was up with that? I have never experienced this before. It did it again a few more times as I finished the vacuuming job. I don't know if it's a telecoil thing and there being something in the vacuum cleaner that messes with it, or if it's the hearing aid in general freaking out. Like I said, never experienced this before. Was quite odd though!

Random Ramblings

I swear, I'm still here! I haven't vanished. I've just been keeping busy, and I also kind of forgot about this blog for a while there.

I'm ready to get back on the cochlear implant path again. The Naida just did not work out for me, and after doing some research and pestering some audiologists online, I felt other hearing aids like Oticon's Sumo probably won't make much difference. And I still want to find out for sure if there is any possibility of implanting the left ear. Now if I can just save up enough money for the CAT scans, and find the name of the imaging center that had given me the price estimate and whatnot... I just may have to make some relay calls again.

In terms of insurance, I still have none. But just very recently I have gotten to thinking of my future.. Do I even have a future with my current job at the newspaper? It doesn't seem like so. Since I am unable to use the phone, there's just not much else I could do at the newspaper. So I am considering finding a new job, a full-time job that offers benefits. That would really help with the process, for sure. And it would just be nice to have some extra money. I mean, there is no way possible I can even think of moving out on my own with my current earnings (which is barely $300 per paycheck which I get every other Friday and most is spent on bills/personal necessities/dog care). I'll be discussing this with my counselor on Wednesday, figure out what my next step should be in getting on with my own life, that sort of thing.


I've had my crazy dog since July. Adopted him from the Humane Society. He seemed like an alert and smart dog. He is pretty alert to sounds around him, and he is smart but I'm just clueless with the training process (still working on getting in contact with a dog trainer). Anyway, he does bark at me for attention, but he's realized that I don't always hear him bark, so he finds other ways to get my attention. He can be so obnoxious when trying to get my attention! In the mornings, I'm still in bed, but he's awake and bored. Finally he's decided he's had enough of waiting on me, so he starts bouncing on my bed to wake me up, and getting into my face. Urgh! And when I'm at my computer, he nudges his nose into my hip or jumps and bounces off the back of my chair and he even does this weird little... dance. He drives me crazy, and yet, I love him like crazy. He's my boy!

History of technology for my ears

Thought it'd be fun to post pictures of all my hearing aids and FM systems for this blog.


My very first pair of hearing aids ever! Or perhaps my second. I'm not too sure.


My lovely old purple hearing aids. Oh gosh, I remember being so proud of them in the 3rd grade at school. None of the other students at the deaf school had colored hearing aids. By about mid-4th grade, I stopped wearing the hearing aid in the left ear, as I realized I never heard anything out of the left ear with it on.


The Comtek FM unit my grandparents got for me. I used it a bit, at church in Sunday School and whatnot. But for the most part, after I had gotten a discman, I used the neckloop to listen to music. The Comteks hardly ever got any use. And we used the school district's Comteks all throughout school. Comteks were used as the school audiologist felt they were the most powerful FMs to use.


The Claro, my first digital hearing aid ever. My interpreter (she's deaf herself, and is now a very good friend of mine), she had gotten new Phonak hearing aids while I was in middle school. Programmable hearing aids. I thought they were so cool, I wanted them for myself! Ended up with the Claro as they were brand new at the time.


The FM transmitter that I also got to go with the Claro. Tried it at school, didn't like how it worked (the signal wasn't strong enough). But wonderful for listening to music with! I then ditched using my personal neckloop and used this FM transmitter, plugged into the discman. I still use it today, on my portable DVD player and at the computer.


The Supero, far more powerful than the Claro. Every time I had to switch back to the Claro so the Supero could be repaired, I was always shocked at how quiet the whole world sounded with the Claro. Wow.


And now, the Naida, Zebra-style! I had already done the different colored hearing aid... now, I wanted something more jazzier, the Zebra. It's pretty neat looking, and I like the new FM shoe too. Much better than the FM shoe I had for the Supero, for sure.


My remote controls. The white one is new, and very nice. The old one, I've been using it since I got the Claro. And only once out of 7 years the battery has been replaced, just ONCE. It's been a good old remote, even though I've dropped it and lost it on several occasions.


And that is how I listen to music now. I've decided I was going to use the Hatis Epic ear device for music only. The HandyMic transmitter has been damaged several times and replaced 3 or 4 times since I first got it. After the last time it was sent in for repair, I got the Epic. With the FM, volume will be maxed out on the DVD player or CD player, and sometimes I would even have to turn the volume up on my hearing aid to hear. But with Epic, the first time I turned on my iPod, I just about blasted my ear off and had to turn down the volume on the iPod. And the Epic is a lot more convenient for traveling. FM, I have to bring the charger for it when traveling, and it gets to be a pain to have to charge it up.

And now, I shall stop rambling. :)